In this episode of the backend engineering show I go through the main job of the network interface controller (NIC for short) and how the datacenter is pushing it to the limit by allowing it to do more TCP/IP processing, creating what is being popularized as smartNIC.

0:00 Intro

1:20 What is a NIC?

3:40 NIC job

8:00 When does the OS get involved

12:40 Promiscuous mode

14:00 SmartNIC

18:30 Disadvantages

Resources

https://developer.nvidia.com/networking/ethernet-adapters

https://www.theregister.com/2022/08/11/smartnics_network_market/

https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.09615

Fundamentals of Networking for Effective Backends udemy course (link redirects to udemy with coupon)

https://network.husseinnasser.com